Our Water Park Adventure

Last Thursday Abby and I headed to one of our local water parks for a play date with my MOPS group. I happily anticipated my baby splashing around in the puddles on the ground and maybe running through one of the smaller sprinklers that the park offers. What I didn't expect was that my toddler would be running as fast as her little chubby legs could carry her from one side of the water park to the next while happily getting drenched. By the end of our outing I think I was more tired than she was!!! It ended up being a great activity to take her to and I'm looking forward to our weekly summer water park gathering.

Abby quickly made it apparent that I was going to have to have eagle eyes on her while we were at the park.  I still learned how fast she can move, though. We went by one of the slides and I peeked inside to see a girl afraid to come down the slide by herself. I checked to see which direction Abby was heading, reached inside to grab the girl's hand, and helped her slide down the slide. When I looked up I couldn't see Abby. Figuring she was just ahead of me in a bunch of kids I walked in the direction she had previously been heading. I couldn't find her!!! I quickly walked to the edge of the water park to look towards the field beside it and still couldn't see her. I began to scan each child in each section of the water park trying to find her. I still couldn't! As I began to run back to the part of the park where I'd last seen her I saw one of my MOPS moms calling my name and pointing to Abby on the ground in front of one of the slides while another mom was trying to comfort her. It seems my little daredevil had taken a sharp left (after I'd checked on her direction before helping the girl go down the slide) and tried to go down the 4-8 years only slide herself. She skinned her knees and feet a bit but after a few minutes of Mom hugs was pushing to get down and run around again. This time I really kept my attention on her and it was every little kid for themselves!

Climbing up the big kids slide after her mishap.

Enjoying playing in the water at the top but having NO desire to actually slide down.

Sitting at the bottom of her baby slide. Still no desire to actually slide down it, though.

Getting sprinkled on under the rainbow.

What does this do?

So cool! (She loved trying to grab the water as it squirted.)

Having enough of the water park we walked across the path to the playground.

My chubby legged baby girl! (I just want to pinch her little tushie!.) This park is nice as they have a separate little kids play area. In roaming the various playgrounds I've found that I really enjoy age-segregated playgrounds so the big kids don't run Abby over and so she doesn't attempt to play with something beyond her developmental years (my 16-month old doesn't need nets and balance bars, thank you very much). In addition these 'younger' play areas tend to have less openings from which to fall out of. This particular park has two staircases, a ramp, and three slides so the only ways to get off are pretty safe. I try not to be a helicopter mom (and she has bumps to prove that) but Abby tends to enjoy exploring and sometimes I am barely able to run around the equipment fast enough to keep her from diving out into a four foot drop to the ground. 

All tuckered out. She literally ran until she dropped. :-)